1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection apparatus configured to eject liquid such as ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet printer as one example of a liquid ejection apparatus includes a head having an ejection face that has a multiplicity of ejection openings through which the head ejects ink onto a recording medium to record an image on the recording medium. Here, when a relatively long time has passed with no liquid ejected from these ejection openings, viscosity of the liquid near the ejection openings increases due to drying, which may cause clogging of the ejection openings. The following technique is known as a technique for suppressing the clogging of the ejection openings, for example.
In this technique, capping is performed by covering the ejection face with a cap to form an ejection space isolated from an outside space. Air in the ejection space is humidified by a humidifying mechanism including a circulation channel that has one end and the other end opening in the ejection space. Specifically, the humidifying mechanism humidifies the air in the ejection space by collecting the air from the ejection space through an opening or an air discharge opening formed at the one end and by supplying humid air into the ejection space through an opening or an air supply opening formed at the other end. This humidification reduces an amount of liquid vaporized near the ejection openings, thereby suppressing the clogging of the ejection openings.